Speaking the world's languages

Two years of high school Spanish class might teach your teenager how to engage in light conversation or even how to conjugate a reflexive verb. But it won't allow him to share complex thoughts, fully enjoy artistic experiences or, one day, conduct business in Spanish.

For that, students need to begin language study much earlier, continue it much longer and approach it in a sequential manner, according to recent reports.

That's far from what Ohio students are getting now, according to a report by the state's Foreign Language Advisory Council and a foreign-language study blueprint by Ohio business and education groups. Now much foreign language study is piecemeal and disjointed. Students often repeat instruction and many elementary and middle school courses run for just part of the school year.

Mastery of a foreign language requires a much more unified approach and generally takes years of study, a fact Americans are inclined to ignore. Many schools in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere are offering new language options, such as Chinese and Japanese, but such instruction needs to start much earlier than high school to be effective. The goal of language study should be full fluency - the ability to speak, write, listen and learn in a second language. Now, for many foreign language students, there is no goal. They fulfill a requirement and promptly lose the little they've gained.

A citizenry able to speak diverse languages is a boon to business and to international affairs. It allows the United States to engage in world commerce and global politics as a full player, able not only to gather information for itself, but to absorb more about other nations' cultures and economies.

The Foreign Language Advisory Council recommends requiring such study for all students, tying course credit to proficiency, recruiting more foreign-language teachers and adding studies in such languages as Chinese and Arabic.

Those are pay dirt goals that mesh nicely with the Bush administration's creation of the National Security Language Initiative, which has spent $80 million to increase the teaching of Chinese, Arabic, Farsi and other critical foreign languages.

Right now 200 million Chinese students study English; 24,000 American students study Chinese. Correcting that imbalance by better and more diverse instruction will raise Ohio's economic profile and enrich the lives of its citizens.

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Speaking the world's languages

Students need to begin language study much earlier than high school, continue it much longer and approach it in a sequential manner. There's an imbalance. Right now 200 million Chinese students study